The 17th March is a very important day for the Irish: it is the day on which they celebrate the
life of their patron saint, St. Patrick. The City Council of Benalmádena maintains a close
relationship with the many Irish residents through the Delegation of Foreign Residents.
Víctor Navas, the Mayor of Benalmádena and Councillor for Foreign Residents, together
with Joanna Drozdowska, technician of the Delegation of Foreign Residents, and Terry
Mckinley, the president of the Irish Association, participated today in the mass in honour of
St. Patrick in the church of Inmaculada Concepción in Arroyo de la Miel.
‘In 1997, Tony Bell created the Irish Association of Spain in Benalmádena, and since then the
Town Council has worked closely with the association to help the Irish, who have chosen
Benalmádena as the city in which they want to live, work and educate their children’, recalled
the Mayor, who underlined the importance of the Irish community's contribution to
Benalmádena's multicultural and cosmopolitan identity.
The association distributes information on community news, social and cultural events to
members of the large local community of foreign residents.
‘This year we wanted to celebrate this day in a different way, by dressing in green the lighting
of one of the most emblematic buildings in Benalmádena, the Bil-Bil Castle’, said the mayor.
‘Benalmádena has been celebrating St. Patrick's Day for more than 20 years, where we host
the main celebration of this festivity in the Costa del Sol: without the current pandemic
restrictions, we would have had a popular parade and a great celebration with our Irish
friends, but health safety measures have forced the festivity to be reduced to the celebration
of a holy mass in the church of Inmaculada Concepcion in 2021’, explained Navas.
‘We hope to return soon to the happy days and the traditional and massive St. Patrick's Day
Festival that Benalmádena hosts every year,’ concluded the mayor.